Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez

Don Beni: Part 4

So we set out from Pampa Hermosa toward La Morada, on foot following trails that the Inca had built 500 years before.
La Morada was the town that Don Beni and his wife had confounded. It was at La Morada that they split up, her staying and him heading further into the jungle with his daughter. It was at La Morada that Don Beni came back to and shot his son in law. It looked like the Añasco clan had split into two distinct parts, one for and one against the patriarch.

We didn't know which we were headed to or how we would be received by either.

It was still raining, all day we would walk through the mud and mist.

Strange dynamics had begun to form within our group. We were all exhausted from walking. But things were getting easier. We were headed down hill and the porter's packs were getting lighter -much lighter I'd find out later- as we ate through our supplies of food yet the porters were becoming sullen. The German was becoming withdrawn as well.

We would walk during the day, headed toward La Morada. When we would get to a farm or house in the evening we would ask for a place to stay and inevitably the 6 of us would cram ourselves into someone's corn crib side by side and spend the night. My pack was filled with camera equipment and not getting any lighter. So, exhausted I would sleep soundly even in tight quarters.

In the morning after a breakfast of quaker oats we would walk another day away. Wash, rinse repeat... The only thing that made the hours of walking tolerable were the stunning scenery and a healthy supply of coca leaves between my cheek and gum.

At each house we would ask after Don B. He was alive, he was dead, he had joined the terrorists, he was at La Morada, he was in Mendoza, is ex wife would be happy to see us, his ex wife wouldn't want to see us. Our task was getting even more confused -if possible...

Then one day we came across a trail crew working on a washed out section of Inca Road. It was headed by Fabian, Don Beni's oldest son. We were just around the corner from La Morada, Don Beni was at his place on the Meseta Grande just a few days walk beyond!

That evening we entered La Morada and set ourselves up in an abandoned house. The weather cleared, people came by to visit. It was civilization. The town even had an aguardiente still. It was nice to be in one place for a few days.

There was also the huge relief for me that even if I could not find Don B to make his portrait I had at least made it to his town and could shoot pictures there. Maybe we could even photograph his ex wife...

Steampunk: Mystery Falls, Tennessee

Like I've said before here, I am best known for my photographs of caves, the Earth from Below. I have been chronicling the underground world for 15 years now.

People come to me for advice on how to light underground all the time. I am happy to share what I have learned over the years. People are usually shocked to find that I light the huge underground spaces with flashbulbs. Yes Flashbulbs as in Weegee or better yet O. Winiston Link. I use them because there are not truly portable battery powered strobes that approach the light output of a large flash bulb. Bulbs are hard to find, fragile, expensive and notoriously fickle. But, they work.

However, someone always wants to know how they can light a huge room easily, and cheaply. You can't. I am not being steampunk by sticking with 70 year old technology. It is just the thing that works. If there was an easier way, I'd do it.

Now there are ways to generate even more light, cheaper and easier underground. But for that you have to rely on even older technology, flash powder. Below is my picture of Mystery Falls lit with 1 once of theatrical flash powder.

Maybe I am a little steam punk...

Stephen Alvarez

Photography Grants

We received our World Press Book yesterday, and had to note that the 1st prize News photograph (by Balazs Gardi) was produced on an Alexia Foundation grant. The economies of photography are not changing - they have already changed.
Note that the Pierre and Alexandra Boulat Grant is due JULY 1...
Please feel free to add other grants and their deadlines in the comments section. Let us know if you find a complete list of photo grants as well.

Think Fixed Tech: Remote Part 1

Remote access here will be considered a usage of your own equipment, software and IP from different locations. You already know how to access email or websites and while that is very helpful, what we want to focus on is the ability to actually leverage your resources. Someday cloud computing will be the norm, for now we have to take the intermediate step.

The first thing to always consider is security. We can set up your home or office computer to share its files to the internet but even though it may be password protected, there are many ways for that info to become compromised. And its not just someone that may want to steal what you have (in fact thats probably the lowest risk), its the random hacker out there that will just jack your files because they can. Trust me, it happens. So what to do? The best thing is to have a VPN server set up on your main base of operations, or between 2 or more locations. Then while on the road you can establish this secure connection and access your local files or control a computer as if you were in the same room. This requires either a hardware VPN device or a software solution or server. Configuration ranges from simple to rocket science. The previous three links are Apple friendly.

Now: There is a simpler solution, although I cant say how much more secure it is. Back to My Mac is included in a .Mac account. If you have .mac, you can easily configure your preferences to allow you to screen control one or more machines. In a couple weeks, it is changing to a product called "Mobile Me" and the functionality should be better (frankly we have seen it not work at all in some cases. you also have to have your firewall configured correctly).

In an effort to keep this as simple as possible I wont go into specific settings. But once you get your secure setup in place, accessing it is simple and then you can let the good times roll. For example, lets say you are in Beijing on business (oh ok, how about a vacation?) and you need to get to a large file on your home or office computer. Further, you need to send that file to someone but the connection you are using in China is in a cafe and you cant stay and wait for the file to download and then upload. So you remotely control the screen of your home computer, attach the file to an email (or whatever means of transfer) and let your home processor and internet connection do the heavy lifting. Off you go. We will go over how to do that next week. Please let me know if you want any details on the above, I know its complex.

Geof Bowie
www.thinkfixed.com

Our Shot on NGM

I have today's "our shot" on the National Geographic web site.

-Stephen Alvarez

Sailing Canoe Hokule'a: Chuuk, FSM

It has only happened a couple of times for me, setting off on the ocean, out of site of land. It is the most wonderful feeling of freedom. You are heading out a grand adventure awaits and there is no turning back. Anyone out there know that feeling?

There are few things in the world more peaceful than watching sunrise from the deck of a sailboat on a calm sea. For me the vastness and possibilities of the world is so apparent in those moments just before the sun comes up. As part of Beyond the Blue Horizon I followed Hokule'a on her journey from Hawai'i to Japan.

This sail between Pohnpei and Chuuk was so peaceful...

-Stephen Alvarez

Don Beni: Part 3

This is the third part of a serialized post about an assignment to find Don Benigno Añasco in Peru. It comes up every Monday.

Did I mention in the last post that it rained?

We had walked all day in the rain and stumbled in at dark to a farm called Pampa Hermosa. We were in sad shape. Soaked like rats and exhausted from trudging all day in the pouring rain and thick mud of the cloud forest.

And we approached the farm with some caution. How would we, wet muddy, cold and very well armed be received by people who were not expecting visitors?

The answer is exceedingly well. The family that cleared the land for this farm placed it on top of an old Inca Trail. The trail was still the only way in and out of the valley. So they were used to visitors. We were shown a dry place to sleep and given food to eat.

In the morning more rain so we rested and visited with the family. It seems that before the Inca were here there was the Chachapoyan culture who buried their dead in funeral houses built into the cliff faces of the valley.

They were all too happy to show us mummies and pottery taken from the crumbling cliff graves. Of course we also pumped the family for news of Don Beni. They knew little, only rumors. Maybe he was on the other side of La Morada, 4 days walk away, maybe at his rice plantation near Mendoza, no one knew for sure.

The following morning the weather cleared somewhat and we set out down the river toward La Morada and we hoped Don Beni.

Naj Tunich: Guatemala

Lucky, that is what I am. It seems that I'm often at the right place at the right time and being there leads to good pictures. This picture is a good example. I did not by any stretch of the imagination happen upon this scene. You don't just show up at Maya cave ceremonies. They are private affairs. The way I got there however, involved quite a bit of chance.

I was shooting in Naj Tunich, the famous Maya art cave in Guatemala. Headed back to the truck late one evening my assistants and I were stopped by some of the men in the village. They knew that the cave was closed and wanted to know what we were doing in there. It took some explaining, but I got across the idea of a National Geographic Magazine article based on the Maya view of the underworld and that we were there with permission for the Guatemalan government.

There was some rumbling in the group and in the growing darkness I couldn't really see what was going on. I was worried that these men, Maya men, didn't want anyone discussing their sacred sites. This is one of the great problems that I had during the story, finding real cave ceremonies to photograph. They are closed events. Did these guys want Naj Tunich to stay closed and out of the public eye?

Well, a piece of paper comes forward out of this knot of gather men. It is a list, a list of things that I should bring with me when I return for the harvest ceremony later that year! I had just been invited to come and photograph a Maya cave ceremony!

No amount of research could have uncovered this opportunity. It came from being at the right place at the right time.

Of course I had to go back to the Magazine and convince them that just one more trip to Central America was what the story really needed. But that is a different story.

-Stephen Alvarez

LOOK3 on NPR

Fabulous little piece on the Festival of the Photograph:
LOOK3: Virginia Town Celebrates the Photograph

El Cap and Half Dome free climb: Guest Post by Q

This is a guest post by Flagstaff, AZ based photographer James Q Martin

"Hi I am Leo" as he extends his hand, I extend mine and this is where the adventure begins.

Leo Holding is an accomplished British climber, and we meet for the first time two weeks ago in El Capitan meadow. Leo has taken a break from his recent successes in Europe as a TV host and ventured to The Holy Grail of Climbing, Yosemite. Within an hour of small talk amongst beers and stealing gazes up at El Capitan's (El Cap) vast flanks. Leo and his American partner Sean Leary reveal their plan to climb El Cap and Half Dome all team-free in less than a 24 hour period, this feat that has never been completed in this fine style. (Team- Free climbing is defined as both parties use only their hands and feet to climb and the rope and gear as protection only)

Before my better judgment has a chance to catch my mistake, I watch in horror as my ego calmly volunteers myself to document their audacious feat. I have agreed to do the unthinkable, hike/climb to top of El Cap and rappel several hundreds of feet down with thousands of feet to photograph the climb as it happens. As a veteran of several big wall photo shoots, I should know better. The pay usually works out to being less then minimum wage, my knees scream for a week after and the reality is that I might not get a good shot for all my efforts.

Several hours of hiking and climbing find my partner Ivo Ninov and I on top of El Capitan. We are perched above Free Rider, Leo and Sean's chosen route. We navigate down into the sea of granite and luckily we locate the climbers. Within minutes of spotting them I am tottering between breathtaking exposure and composing the perfect shot. Sean is climbing in the afternoon light and his fluid movements are making for great imagery. We continue up together, Ivo and I ascending the fixed ropes via mechanical devices called jumars, and the climbers using their hands, feet and minds. Then it happens, the worst scenario, we are forced to traverse into the shadows of a large dihedral and we lose the light. I try to calm myself but I am a wreck, the light is perfect everywhere but on the climbers.... I continue to shoot. We steadily continue upward and I see there is a chance for a good shot. Leo is going to leave the corner system and enter the sweet evening light, but it will be brief and I will only have a minute to get my shot. Leo pulls around the corner and fighting exhaustion and rope drag, he leans out with relief and pain as he hits the good climbing hold.

Leo and Sean succeeded in their sub 24 hour climb of both formations, free climbing Half Dome in the dark in 5 hours.